Population Reports

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Population Reports

• Meeting the Urban Challenge

Prepared by Don Hinrichsen Ruwaida M. Salem,
MPH Richard Blackburn, MS Series M, Number
16 Fall 2002
Related Materials Online
Meeting the Urban Challenge www.populationreports
.org/m16edsum.shtml
Questions Answers www.populationreports.org/qa
s/m16/
Quiz www.populationreports.org/prquiz/urban_intro
.shtml
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Overview

• Urban Population Trends
• Urban Poor
• Urban Pollution and Health
• Impact on the Environment
• Making Urban Areas Work

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URBAN POPULATION TRENDS
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An Urban Future

• In 2007 half of worlds population will be urban
  (about 3.2 billion people)
• Developed world Latin America
• About 75 of population lives in urban areas
• By 2030 84 will live in urban areas
• Developing world
• 40 of the population lives in urban areas
• By 2030 56 will live in urban areas

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Growing Number of Big Cities
274
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Population Reports
Source United Nations (2002)
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Explaining Urban Growth

• Migration from rural and other urban areas
• more prominent during initial phases of
  urbanization
• Natural population increase
• more prominent during later phases of
  urbanization
• Reclassification of rural areas to urban

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THE URBAN POOR
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Urban Poverty Statistics

• Conservative estimates from the World Bank
• 30 of poor people live in urban areas
• By 2020 40 will live in urban areas
• By 2035 50 will live in urban areas

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More World Bank Estimates

• 1988 330 million urban poor in developing world
  were living on lt1/day
• 2000 495 million urban poor in developing world
  were living on lt1/day

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Insufficient Incomes

• Unemployment levels relatively low in urban areas
  
• Shift from formal sector employment to informal
  labor market
• Low status
• Low wages
• Long hours
• Unsafe work conditions

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Informal Labor Market
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Inadequate Housing and Services

• Over 1 billion urban residents worldwide live in
  inadequate housing
• Slum residents usually lack security of tenure
• Legal housing is scarce and too expensive
• Urban poor usually pay more for services of
  inferior quality

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Pollution and Health
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Water and Sanitation

• Urbanization can increase per capita use of
  freshwater
• WHO and UNICEF Number of urban residents without
  access to improved water rose from 113 million in
  1990 to 173 million in 2000
• 1/3 of urban water supplies
• in Africa and Latin America
• and 1/2 in Asia operate
• intermittently

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Water-Related Diseases

• Worldwide, about 2.3 billion people suffer from
  water-related diseases
• Nearly half of urban residents in Africa, Asia,
  and Latin America suffer from one or more of the
  main diseases
• Diarrheal diseases are responsible for 90 of
  health problems
• Estimated 4 billion cases/year, causing 3-4
  million deaths

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Outdoor Air Pollution

• Latin American cities struggle with high
  suspended particulate matter ozone levels
• Asian cities face similar problems, with rapid
  growth of cities, more fuel use more vehicles
• Developed countries have strict environmental
  standards, but energy consumption is greater
  pollution levels often exceed standards

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Outdoor Air Pollution

• WHO estimates that 1.5 billion urban dwellers
  face pollution levels that exceed recommended
  levels
• In Asia, 1.5 million people die every year from
  pollution related diseases
• In the US particulate pollution causes one-fifth
  of all lung cancers
• Worldwide health costs of urban air pollution are
  estimated at 1 billion a year

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Indoor Air Pollution

• A particular problem in rural areas however,
  millions of urban poor also suffer
• Estimates suggest that urban indoor air pollution
  kills about 600,000 annually
• Worldwide, 3 billion people rely on biomass fuels
  for household cooking heating
• These fuels emit large amounts of smoke, directly
  inside dwelling without ventilation

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Indoor Air Pollution

• Urban poor often cannot afford cleaner fuels
• Women and children suffer the most
• Cleaning up indoor air is also a
• compelling public health need
• A number of technical, behavioral
• and policy approaches could help

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Impact on the Environment
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Urban Environment

• Rapid urbanization can create stress on the
  natural environment
• Urban areas take up 2 of the earths surface,
  but account for 75 of industrial wood use
• 60 of water for human use goes to urban areas
• Per capita resource consumption, water air
  pollution, and soil degradation contamination
  have increased

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Urban Expansion

• Unplanned unregulated urban development leads
  to haphazard expansion worsening urban living
  conditions
• Industrial development takes place without
  concern for environment
• Economic growth can contribute to urban
  environmental problems
• Burden of urban environmental problems falls
  disproportionately on the poor

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Heavy Ecological Footprints

• Ecological footprint of urban areas weighs
  heavily on the natural environment
• Ecological footprint of humankind should be 1.7
  hectares of land per capita
• Ecological footprint is 2.3 hectares
• In the past 25 years consumption levels in
  industrialized countries has increased
  consistently at 2.3 per year
• In developing countries, per capita consumption
  has increased, and resource use has soared

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MAKING URBAN AREAS WORK
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Better Urban Governance

• Definition Organization of relationships
  between political administrative institutions
  the relationships among government, private
  institutions civil society
• Consensus National governments should play the
  role of enabler local governments should have
  more control over the planning management of
  local affairs

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Decentralization

• Devolve budget authority from national and state
  governments to municipal level
• Increase administrative capacity of local
  governments
• Ensure an inclusive process (community
  participation)

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Case Study Porto Alegre, Brazil

• 1989 participatory budget process
• Each year citizens participate in 2 meetings
• Citizens rank their top 5 priority needs from a
  list of 14
• Local government revises regional plans and
  budget allocations based on this list
• Conditions for the poor have improved In 7
  years
• Households with access to water 80 ? 98
• Access to sewerage 46 ? 85

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Improving the Lives of the Urban Poor

• Millenium Summit 2000 Goal Improve lives of at
  least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020
• But number of slum dwellers is projected to reach
  1.5 billion by 2020

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Role of Local Governments

• Implement pro-poor social and economic policies
• Provide housing and basic services
• Provide access to land and credit for the urban
  poor
• Extend security of land and housing tenure

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Role of Communities

• Organize and work together to increase
  negotiating power with government
• Example community savings and loan groups
• Community groups can often provide cheaper
  housing and services
• Example Philippines Homeless Peoples Federation

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Role of Donors

• Long-term approach that emphasizes
  institution-building
• Increase funding to nongovernmental organizations
  when government structures are weak
• Work through local partners

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Improving Water and Sanitation

• With community participation, municipal
  governments can improve water supplies
  sanitation
• Saving water is more effective than finding new
  sources of water
• Fix leaky valves water mains
• and cut back on illegal taps
• Pricing water
• Widespread use of on-site
  
• and off-site technologies

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Curbing Air Pollution

• WHO estimates bringing suspended particulate
  matter in cities in developing countries down to
  safe levels could save 300,000 to 700,000 lives
  annually
• More effective transport systems
• More land for parks and green areas

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Recycling Wastes

• Recycling urban waste into new resources
• Some countries have gone beyond recovery and
  recycling by promoting industrial symbiosis
• In many poor countries unable to afford high-tech
  solutions, armies of rag pickers sort through
  garbage for items they can resell or recycle

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A Way Forward

• Better governance integrated coordination at the
  national, provincial local levels
• National governments play role of the enabler
  local governments have more direct control over
  urban areas
• Public participation led by local community
  members to enhance decision-making
• Donor agencies re-evaluating the nature of
  development assistance
• Reallocate resources to focus on institutional
  capacity
  

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References

• Bicego, G. and Ahmad, O.B. Infant and child
  mortality. Calverton, Maryland, Macro
  International, Aug. 1996 (Demographic and Health
  Surveys Comparative Studies No. 20) 58 p.
• United Nations (UN). Population Division. World
  urbanization prospects The 2001 revision. New
  York, UN, Mar. 20, 2002. 182 p.

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Photo Credits

• Slide 1 Liz Gilbert/David and Lucile Packard
  Foundation
• Slide 9 Antje Becker-Benton
• Slide 13 Liz Gilbert/David and Lucile Packard
  Foundation
• Slide 16 Malea Hoepf
• Slide 17 CEDPA/Nepal
• Slide 22 Nigel Bruce
• Slide 31 D. Hinrichsen
• Slide 35 Sara A. Holtz/Peace Corps

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Ordering Information

• You may order the report in one of four ways

Online at http//www.jhuccp.org/cgi-bin/orders/ord
erform.cgi
by sending an e-mail to orders_at_jhuccp.org
by sending a fax to 1-410-659-6266 or by writing
to INFO Project Distribution 111 Market
Place Suite 310 Baltimore, MD 21202 USA
Population Reports